Shadow of the Archer
by DeathDealer1997
Summary: Those of you who read "Is Love the same as Trust" should defienitly read this cause HERE IS THE SEQUEL I PROMISSED! Rated M cause I'm paranoid and for a bar scene that I have planned heh heh  remember kids, drinking is bad for your health *Complete*
1. Old Friends Return

Shadow of the Archer

Rated M cause I'm paranoid

Sequel to "Is Love the Same as Trust?"

R&R and I will post regularly

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Chapter 1: Old Friends Return

It happened quickly, someone opened the door for three of the team's worst villains.

Cheshire, Sportsmaster, and the sniper from the last mission were allowed to just walk in like they owned the place, then start tearing it to shreds

Kaldur was the only one in the garage when the doors opined, the moment he saw those faces and masks he knew what was going on

Artemis stayed behind to deal with him while the rest went ahead, he tried to stop them but an explosive arrow had other things in mind

"You have betrayed us? Why?" said Kaldur

"There's no simple way to explain, all you have to worry about is dodging." Said Artemis shooting several more arrows

One hit his right shoulder; it exploded and sent him flying across the room

"This is…because of Wally…isn't it?" said Kaldur

"Shut up!" she shot another explosive arrow that hit the center of his chest

"Have you…ever thought that maybe, things weren't what they seemed at first glance?" Kaldur

"I knew enough to know he betrayed me." Said Artemis

"No! You didn't know anything! In your despair you refused to see the truth!"

"Well then what is the "truth," what can possibly justify it?"

"I didn't _ask_ him to spy on you, I _ordered_ him to spy on you! If he had any say in the matter he would of backed out!" Kaldur was staring to cough blood "And all the time he never believed it could be you, not ever! He didn't do it to find out if you were the mole, he did it to prove you weren't!"

Then he was dead


	2. Goodbye

Artemis felt nothing but guilt

And finally she saw how foolish she had been, to assume she knew everything before even hearing his side of the story

Kaldur was right, in her sorrow she had become blind, and now it was too late

She took their leaders life, she brought their enemies to their home, and she full out betrayed the team

They could never trust her again, that's if they didn't hunt her down and lock her up in a jail cell.

Then Wally ran in, stunned to see her, more stunned to see Kaldur

"Artemis, what happened to…" said Wally

"I killed him, isn't that much obvious?" said Artemis

"But…why?"

"Cause I was stupid, stupid and blind, and now that I finally know what's going on it's too late, I've done too much."

She looked at Kaldur's lifeless body

"I swore I would never do this again, and now look at me." Said Artemis

"Artie, is this really what you want to do?" said Wally

"Of course not! I would give anything for things to just go back to the way they were before!"

"You don't have to go with them, it's not too late we can fix this together."

"We both know I can never fix this, I don't have a place with you or the heroes anymore."

She took off her mask and bow and dropped it on the ground

"I'm only a shadow of the archer you knew. The Artemis you knew is dead."

She tossed an arrow at him that blew out toxic gas

"I won't…give up on you! You're…not…dead…to me…"

"Goodbye Wally…I'm sorry."


	3. Broken

Wally woke up after a few hours, the garage was burning but the fires were minor

"Artemis!" he called "Artemis! Where are you?"

There was no reply

Kaldur's corpse still sat against the wall, her mask and bow still laid on the ground

He picked up the mask and bow

She was gone…Artemis was gone

Then Red Tornado barged into the room

"He's in here." Said the machine

Batman and Black Canary walked in

They took Wally to the infirmary where the rest of the team was waiting

They all had some scars, major burns or just a few bruises, but they were all alive

"What happened, I was stuck in the garage?" said Wally

"After a while, the Justice League showed up and sent them all running, but couldn't catch any of them." Said Robin

"Since then they've been running damage control." Said Conner

"Have you seen Kaldur?" said M'gann

"Kaldur is…dead." Said Wally

There was a moment of silence

"Who's going to lead the team now?" said Robin

"I'm not sure there can be a team anymore." Said Conner

Deep down, they all knew he was right, after what had happened here the team was pretty much gone, broken.

Their leader was dead and their archer joined the enemy, that's 2 places that no one can fill

"I can't believe Artemis would just…betray us." Said M'gann

"If I ever find her, so help me…" said Conner

"You're not going to hurt her!" said Wally

"Wally, she's the enemy! She left us for them and just tried to kill us all!" said Conner

"She's just lost! She thinks she's all alone in this world, she need's help not a beating!" said Wally

"She betrayed us, I understand why you may not want to see it but you have to face facts! Artemis is the enemy now!" said Robin

This is exactly like she said it would happen, looking at them and hearing their words Wally knew that they'll never give her a second chance, not after this

If it were anyone else he would probably be thinking the same thing as them, but this was different

They all probably thought he was just a heart-broken lovesick shell of a man and that's why he wouldn't except that Artemis had betrayed them

But they were wrong, they didn't hear her or see her; they don't know what he knows

She was lost and confused, and he was the only one who wanted to help her

Problem was, he couldn't find her, and he'd just be reaching into the dark, hoping to find an arrow

He couldn't find her no matter how desperately he wanted to help her

All he had left of her was her mask and bow, but that wasn't enough, that wouldn't ever be enough

He needed to see her, to hear her, to feel her, to kiss her, and to help her

But he couldn't find her

Artemis was gone


	4. End of an Era

Kaldur's funeral was held at his home Atlantis; everyone from the team and the League came to mourn the fallen warrior

He was given a royal burial, the highest honor under the sea

The Justice League said they would handle Sportsmaster and his team, though they would never tell you children they made little or no progress tracking them down, the four criminals were home free

Not long after the team split, Robin went back to being Batman's sidekick, and about a year later became Nightwing

Dinah took Conner in since Superman wouldn't, he lived on a normal life, and only being called to help protect the city every now and then to keep his skills sharp when training was beginning to fail at this

M'gann lived with her uncle though he rarely had time to stop and chat, she still attended school as before, though her super-hero career was most certainly over

Wally however, did not return to being Flash's sidekick like everyone thought he would. He fell off the grid, breaking all contact from family and friends, no one knew where he was, all they ever saw of him was a gust of wind during a holiday or birthday, then suddenly all the ice-cream was gone and a note was left with a rating on how it tasted and a hello to everyone in the house. Other than this however, he was a ghost, never seen, never heard.

None of them ever tried to contact each other, the memories of the past were too painful for any of them to ever get an Email through.

It seemed that Young Justice would be forever dead…until 2 years later, when they all got the message.


	5. Headshot

Artemis stared out her window, looking at the open field

Winter was starting to come in and snow covered the ground in a soft blanket

Her father and sister were off on a mission and wouldn't get back till the end of the week, so it was just her and her partner Headshot, although he seemed more like a mentor most of the time, in many ways he was more of a father than her actual father was

"Artemis! Training!" Headshot called from downstairs

She got up and grabbed her bow, then quickly ran down the stairs and to the basement

The basement had been turned into a training grounds that ran under most of the "farm" (as their hideout was disguised as)

Headshot was waiting, she liked training with him more than Sportsmaster, her father would force a real life-or-death scenario every week, Headshot only did it once or twice a month, and he made sure she possessed all the skills required to survive

He didn't go easy on her, what kind of trainer goes easy on their trainee, but at least he didn't try to kill her, he pushed her beyond her limits but always made sure she survived

In fact if she ever failed one of the life-or-death scenarios she had a hunch he would pull the plug and get her out, though she wasn't going to test it

"Start with a simple precision shot to get you warmed up." Said Headshot

She stood behind the line and aimed at the target 100 yards away

She shot and as expected, bull's-eye

"Again." Said Headshot

She did the same drill 5 times, then 100 push-ups and sit-ups before Headshot believed she was ready to start training

They went to the water pit and shoved a wooden platform in; Artemis stood on the platform, took a few seconds to balance it, and waited for instructions

Headshot walked away 75 yards, and grabbed disc from the wall

"Shoot these as I throw them in the air." Said Headshot

He threw a disc in the air and she shot the center, knocking it out of the air

Headshot threw another one, slightly faster this time; she still shot it out of the sky

He threw the next one faster, and another, and another

Each time he threw one it was faster than the one before, by the 100th disc Artemis was having to aim more carefully just to hit them at all, and being on a wobbly platform that was always bobbing and shifting in random patterns didn't help, but that's what made it training

After disc 320 she finally missed

Although this was an improvement, last time she only made it to 298, if Headshot was pleased he only showed it with a nod

He grabbed 5 disc

"Hit all five at once." Said Headshot, she immediately figured out it was a multi-shot test

He threw them in the air, she quickly loaded the arrows and fired, but she missed one

Headshot sighed

"Again."

She got it after 3 attempts, this wasn't an improvement of last time, and she got the exact same score, and was about to get the exact same lecture no doubt

"Remember, on the field you may only get one chance to hit the targets." Yup, same lecture "Now, let's work on hand-to-hand combat."

She stepped off the floating platform and they went to the mats

"Start with drills 1 through 10." Said Headshot

Artemis nodded, after completing the drills she looked to her mentor for approval

"The transition from drill 5 to drill 6 is still in need of improvement, and remember not to pack so much power into each move, use the speed of the moves to create the power, if you put too much energy into a single move it will leave an opining for an enemy to take advantage of."

Artemis nodded

Headshot stepped onto the mats now

"Now for counter-drills."

He started with a simple punch; she hit the hand out of the way then wrapped her arm around it before kicking his side and jumping back

Headshot nodded, Artemis always wondered how he could take these attacks and look like he barely felt anything at all; maybe the mask hid his pained facial expressions

Headshot then attacked with a jump-kick, she slid under him then attacked the back of his head, landing a perfect back-fist on his skull; this would knock out any normal person

Headshot nodded

"And finally, learn to counter a counter-attack. Attack me with a side-kick to the stomach followed by a back-fist, recognize my counter-attack and react."

Artemis nodded then attacked, he caught her side-kick by the heel of her foot, counter 74, react by turning the side-kick into a hook-kick then a round kick, she did just that then followed through on the back-fist

After she executed the routine, Headshot nodded

He looked to the clock

"That is enough for now, it is time for lunch." Said Headshot

They went to the kitchen, although even lunch was training, she had to use her senses to figure out which foods were poisoned and which weren't

A variety of foods were laid out on the table, all of them looked fine but only a few were edible

First she picked out foods she actually wanted to eat, and then figured out if they were poisoned

After she picked out the ones she thought were poisoned, she brought to food to her teacher for evaluation

He looked at the food carefully

"This is your final decision." This could either mean good or bad

Artemis nodded

Headshot sighed, that meant bad

"You died, the Salad Dressing had specs of #5 Poison." Said Headshot

Damn, #5 poison, that one almost always got her cause it could only be found by sense of smell so they always put it in foods that could mask the smell, like salad dressing, she once went hungry for 5 whole days because of it

"Then we go back to training." Said Headshot, and then they went back to the training room

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**A/N—Just in case you didn't figure it out yourself, Headshot is that one sniper from the last book; you know the one from the mission just before Artemis left the team. Also, since you've never seen him on TV or anything cause he was created in my mind, I'll tell you what he looks like. He wares a black hoodie with a bulletproof vest over it, black military pants, and a dark red mask that covers his entire face except for his eyes**


	6. On The Trail

Wally stood in his makeshift bedroom in an abandoned apartment

He looked at the green mask and bow on his shelf

"I'm going to find you." He whispered, running his finger along the edges of the mask

He was so lost in thought he almost didn't notice people arriving at the alleyway beside his home

He would never forget their faces, not even 2 years could wipe them from his mind

All of them showed up, one by one, each wondering who called them there

He grabbed the documents and ran down the stairs

When he approached the alleyway the rest of the team looked at him like they looked at each other.

"The whole teams back together." Said M'gann

"There's still two missing." Said Nightwing

"Not for long." Said Wally, now they looked at him like he was crazy "I'm the one that called you guys here cause I need help following a lead."

"A lead to what?" said Conner

"Her." Nightwing answered for him

Wally ignored that comment

"These people who call themselves The Mask have been running all over the world, stealing tech and such, no one has ever been able to catch them or find out who even one of them are, until now." Said Wally "A while back, a bystander managed to attack one of them, in the battle the attackee lost her mask, she still got away but the bystander got a good look at her, she told the police that she was blond, had grey eyes, hair in a ponytail, and she was an archer."

"That could just be anyone." Said Nightwing

"I'm not going to chance that." Said Wally

They seemed to stop taking him seriously the moment she came into the picture

"Look, if Artemis works for The Mask then if we find her, we find them, and you want to know something about them? They are the same people that attacked the base 2 years ago, the same people that killed Kaldur, the same people from the documents the contact gave us before the League confiscated it…and the same people who destroyed the team. Don't you think it's about time for some payback?"

Nightwing was the only one who didn't immediately agree

"Say we do eventually find them, what will you do when you find her? Why do you want to find her?" Nightwing was testing him and Wally knew it

"Revenge." He lied, keeping his face as neutral as possible to sell the act

"Then I'm in," said Nightwing

Wally couldn't help but grin, they were all together teaming up to battle evil, just like the good old days


	7. Promises

**A/N—I read a review that thought that I made Headshot Artemis' dad, in case anyone else assumed this I will respectfully tell you that you are mistaken, Sportsmaster is her dad in this, it's just that Headshot acts as Artemis' mentor and is more of a father figure than Sportsmaster as I hope I will successfully show in later chapters, but Sportsmaster is still her genetic father and the only reason he wasn't the one training her is ch5 was because he was off on a mission as I believe I mentioned during the chapter (checks back) yup I mentioned it**

**Also, she won't be going back to her old villain name Tigress, she's keeping her real one but her outfit has changed, I'll describe it later**

**Wow, looking back that was way longer than I meant it to be, oh well, on with the story**

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They gathered round a table in Wally's apartment, he placed the documents on the table

"This is all I've been able to gather on The Mask." Said Wally

_They each custom make their own mask, each with it's own style and tech, all mask are required to alter the voice and have built in filters_

_They don't have a single base of operations and as far as anyone knows they don't have a single leader, rather a council of leaders who make the major decisions, number of councilors is unknown, leaders of minor hideouts are chosen by the people who inhabit the hideout_

_Mostly deal in assassinations and theft of advance technology_

_None of them are trained by the organization, you either have the skills to start with or you don't get in_

"There isn't much." Said Nightwing

"Cut me some slack, this isn't exactly my field." Said Wally "Anyway, that's why I called all of you, cause we all know I couldn't ever hope to do this on my own."

Nightwing looked at the documents again

"If they steal advanced tech then they would probably have their hideouts in places they could use it without any radio waves interfering, a Satellite dead-zone. Somewhere in the middle of nowhere. But that same tech would have to leak out something every now and then, so if we use the Watchtower global surveillance equipment then we'll be able to pick up on a power fluctuation in the middle of a dead-zone, but it will take a while." Said Nightwing

"One problem, none of us can watch the surveillance 24/7." Said Conner

"We won't have to, I'll just hack into the system and have it alert my cell phone every time there's a sudden spring of power." Said Nightwing

"Hey, why don't we just tell the League this, let them handle it." Said M'gann

"Because…this is our battle, they hit us, not the League, so it's our responsibility to hit them back." Said Wally

"How do we all get in contact once Robin, I mean Nightwing, has the info?" said Conner

"I'll let you know, then we can all meet here." Said Nightwing

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

After the meeting, Wally stopped by Artemis' old house

Her mother was sitting in the kitchen when he came through the door

He had been taking care of Mrs. Crock ever since Artemis left, brought food, kept crooks out, the usual

She was sitting in the kitchen looking at one of Artemis' old arrows

"I miss her too." Said Wally, Mrs. Crock jumped at the sound of his voice; she obviously hadn't noticed him walk in

"Oh, Wally it's you." Said Mrs. Crock, carefully setting the arrow on the table like it was gold

"Are you okay here?" said Wally

"I'm surviving." Said Mrs. Crock

Wally looked at the arrow on the table

"It hit us all pretty hard…but she won't be gone forever." Said Wally

"I know but…not even holding on to that hope can help fill the void, nothing can." Said Mrs. Crock

"I came by to tell you that I'll be leaving pretty soon, I finally have a lead."

Mrs. Crocks gasped

"You…really know where she is?" said Mrs. Crock

"I know how to find out, and when I do I'll probably be gone for a few days, maybe a week." He walked towards the door, looking back he said "Next time I visit, she'll be with me, I promise."


	8. The Song on the Wind

Artemis sat in her room again, looking at the field

It was dark now; the night was still and the song of the crickets chirped in the sky

The silence was interrupted by a pair of motorcycles entering the driveway and going to the shed

She watched as Sportsmaster and Cheshire walked out and came towards the house

A while after they came inside, Headshot knocked on her door

"They're back. Don't you think you should come down to welcome them?"

After a moment of no reply, he knocked again

"Look, I know you may not exactly be daddy's biggest fan, but shouldn't you at least say hi to your sis…she won't always come home."

After she refused to reply again she heard him sigh on the other side

"Or you can just stay up here and sit in the dark, your choice. Just remember we have to be in the Communication Chambers in an hour."

Then she heard the footsteps leave her door

She sighed and looked out her window, feeling the cool night air on her face, her dad would probably kill her if he found out she wasn't wearing her mask, but screw what he wanted

She cleared her thoughts and listened to the soft cricket song playing in the wind

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Over the hour she actually caught herself humming along to the tune that seemed to play on the wind, these were some of the few enjoyable things about living here, the peace and lovely sounds of the country night

Then a knock on her door interrupted it

"It's time for the meeting." Said Cheshire

Artemis put on her mask then walked out the door

The Communication Chambers were in the shed across the yard, not the shed they put their vehicles in, a shed disguised as horse stables

This was when they were at their most vulnerable; they had to use a special device to connect directly to the Council's transition, which if someone was actively looking for it could possibly spot, so they did this rarely

When all the gear was set up Cheshire switched it on, holographic projections of the 3 council members appeared in front of them

"_The mission was a success?"_

"Yes, the Japanese ambassadors are all dead and the Americans are taking the blame, and on the way out we recovered the secondary objective." Said Sportsmaster

"They weren't very far in the research, but at least it's something that will help the data-wing to start their own research." Said Cheshire

"We're sending it to you now." Said Sportsmaster, taking the PDA and plugging it into the network

With their advanced gear, it was uploaded in an instant

"_Excellent, stay on stand by until further notice. As a final note, our spy cameras on the Watchtower suggest that someone in the League is hunting us. Keep a low profile."_

With that they signaled for Cheshire to turn off the machine

"Hunting us? How do they know about us?" said Artemis

"It was only a matter of time before they acknowledged our existence, but if the council are worried about them finding us, then we must use caution." Said Headshot

Cheshire yawned

"Well if we're attacked I want to be well rested and it's been a long night, how about we all get some sleep?" said Cheshire

"After a round of training, I noticed no fewer than 3 flaws from you on the mission." Said Sportsmaster, and then turned to Headshot "You trained her while we were gone?"

"Yes, I recorded her progress although I'll tell you now she's improving by the day." Said Headshot

"Good." Said Sportsmaster before him and Cheshire went to the training room

"Goodnight Artemis." Said Headshot

"Night." She replied


	9. Incoming

"Artemis…Artemis…" Her eyes opened lazily, Headshot was standing over her

"Put on your mask, we're under attack!" said Headshot heading back towards the door

"Under attack?" Artemis came to life instantly, grabbing her mask off the nightstand and arming herself with her bow and quiver "Who is attacking us?"

"There's an incoming cloaked ship, it's a little too close for comfort, and we're being careful." Said Headshot

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

"We're almost there." Said M'gann

"And you're absolutely sure this is where the signal was." Said Wally to Nightwing

"Yes I'm sure." Replied Nightwing

Wally looked ahead out the front window

"_One small step…" _he began thinking then stopped when he remembered that M'gann could hear thoughts

They flew over the spot that the transition came from; all that was below them was a "farm"

"I'm going to land in the field." Said M'gann, taking them in closer

Then a familiar sniper walked out of the farmhouse, he pulled out a pistol and fired a round at them

Upon impact, the bullets exploded like grenades, sending them crashing into the snow covered field

They crawled out of the ship and faced the people who just walked out of the farmhouse

Sportsmaster, Cheshire, the sniper, and some chick in a black outfit with red line patterns and a mask that matched, she wielded a bow and had a quiver on her back, as well as a wrist-crossbow on her right wrist with it's own mini-quiver strapped on her left shoulder

They walked out of the ship to face the masked team

"Headshot, greet our guest." Said Sportsmaster to the sniper

Headshot nodded and fired more exploding bullets, the team dodged although it hit the ship, her pain being transmitted to M'gann, slowing her down until a bullet landed close enough to affect her

Then Headshot fired only to receive a click from the gun

"I'm out of explosives!" said Headshot

The archer and Cheshire nodded at each other then ran towards the team

The archer fired a net on M'gann, Wally attacked the archer who slid then kicked him over her and onto the ground before shooting a net on him

While Cheshire attacked Nightwing with twin knives, when Conner came at her she jumped over him while simultaneously throwing knockout pellets in his face, which exploded emitting gas that, well they are called knockout pellets it should be self-explanatory

Nightwing attacked Cheshire with a bat-arrange that knocked a knife out of her hand, then he kicked at her leg, she jumped over him and tried to attack from above but he had predicted this and rolled to the side and kicking her to the ground when she fell next to him

Headshot prepared to fire with his sniper-rifle but Sportsmaster shook his head

"Let's see what they can do." Said Sportsmaster

The archer lined up the shot at Nightwing, when Wally attacked from behind, tripping her thus making her shot misfire, then Wally kicked her in the back of the head knocking her face-first into the snow

She took the chance to trip him; he rolled backwards and attacked the archer

Cheshire jumped up and kicked Nightwing following with a flurry of punches, while he was to busy blocking she kneed him in the stomach then kicked him to the ground

Then she was pushed back by M'gann's telepathic attack

Meanwhile the archer was being barraged by a flurry of punches from Wally, she was blocking, ducking, back flipping and doing whatever it took to keep away from his attacks, but she was too slow for the speedster

"This if for the HQ!" he said kicking her in the stomach, "This is for Artemis!" ironic, he jump kicked her in the chest knocking her to the ground before she quickly jumped up, only to be met with another brutal attack, "And this is for any I missed!" he punched her in the face so hard it shattered her mask in two leaving her dizzy and bruised from the barrage

She fell backwards in the snow

She shook her head and looked at the wide-eyed speedster, she wasn't able to hide who she was from him anymore, not without her mask

"Artemis?" said Wally, more stunned than the archer


	10. Heart to Heart

**A/N—Sorry it's been so long, I've been so caught up in reading another Fan-fic on this site that I sort of forgot about this one, if you read it you would understand, it's one of the best fan-fics I've ever read, call it spamming but I'm going to send the URL cause seriously, this dude's/chick's story is just plain fantastic! the story is titled Who We Are  
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**Now, on with my own story**

**/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/**

Wally was pretty much frozen looking at Artemis, he had been searching for so long and now that he finally found her, he didn't know what to do or say

Artemis looked back up at him, then at her father from the corner of her eye

She knew he expected her to attack without hesitation, any different would likely result in a beating later

But this was Wally, she kept trying to jump up and attack him, but something was always holding her back

Finally, Cheshire ran over and kicked Wally to the ground

"Get up!" she yelled at her

Artemis quickly got out of the snow, Cheshire's opponents were running towards them, the two were cornered in a triangle formed by the three, or at least it seemed like that but Artemis knew Wally wasn't really prepared to fight

"Enough, retreat to the rendezvous point and we'll relocate! Make sure these heroes don't follow you!" said Sportsmaster, and then he and Headshot retreated into the forest

Nightwing was about to chase after him when M'Gann stopped him

"We're going to need everyone just to hold out against these two." She said

"You're going to need a lot more than just the three of you to bring us in," taunted Cheshire

Wally and Artemis had almost completely blocked everything else out

Artemis had tried to forget, forget what she loved and lost but every time she came even remotely close memories would plague her and she would be forced to remember what she loved and could never again have

Seeing Wally here was both the best and worse thing to happen to her ever since she left the team and joined The Mask

Wally had thought about her ever second since she left, he would lie awake at night staring at the last he had seen of her, the mask and bow she had left at the HQ that he still kept on his shelf

He had suffered from the memories of her; he didn't know what he would do when he actually found her, he had always just thought that if he could find her everything would be ok again, thinking back this was really stupid of him

Although even if he knew back then, that wouldn't have slowed him down

"Split them up," Cheshire whispered to Artemis, forcing her back into reality "I'd love to toy around with these losers but we're expected, and we do not want to keep dad waiting, you take the speedster and get him inside the house where he can't maneuver, I'll take these two."

"Umm, why do you get to have all the fun?" she tried to act as normal as possible

"It shouldn't take you all that long to deal with the speedster, once your done the two of us should be able to beat these to in about a minuet or two."

Artemis nodded then turned back to Wally

She hesitated a moment, then shot an exploding arrow near him, sending him flying closer to the house

She ran into the house and as planned he ran after her

M'Gann was about to follow but Cheshire jumped in front of her and threw a few poison gas bombs at her

M'Gann deflected them then Cheshire attacked, but Nightwing jumped up and kicked her back to the ground

"Artemis had better not take her time." Cheshire said to herself

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Artemis ran down to the training area, knowing Wally was following

She stopped in the center of the room and looked back at the door

Wally ran in and stopped at the door

"Artemis." He said

"Wally," said Artemis "Please, just stop trying."

"I can't do that."

"I'm gone, there's no turning back no matter how much we both wish things could go back to normal, we both know that things can never be the same."

"They don't have to be exactly the same, I just need to have you with me to be happy, your mother needs you too."

"Face it Wally, it's time we both let go, stop fighting for something that isn't coming back."

"You don't have to stay with them, come back with me. We can stay in hiding, no one even has to know we're alive, just please…come back."

Artemis couldn't help but be moved by how much he tried, he was willing to leave behind everyone, his family, the league, everything…just for her

"I don't want you to have to hide, it's a life not worth living, and I'm not going to let you throw your life away just for me." Said Artemis

She could see him taking steps toward her

"It's better than a life without you." Said Wally

Artemis was tempted to go with him, but she couldn't do that to him

They would be hunted, by the league, by what's left of the team, by her father and The Mask…that wasn't a life she wanted to force on him

She waited silently, then pulled out the activation button and pressed it

A trap door fell from under Wally and he fell down into a small ditch, glass automatically sealed him in

Headshot once put her in this deathtrap, it's probably the easiest one in the world, she knew he could make it out, but at least it would stall him long enough for her and Cheshire to get out of there

She looked down at him as water started to fill the ditch

"Just let me go." She said then walked off leaving him calling after her


	11. Alone

Artemis walked out of the house, Cheshire was still fighting Nightwing and M'Gann, and Conner was still unconscious

Nightwing saw her instantly and threw a pair of exploding bat-arranges at her feet; she jumped back then returned fire

She ran forward into the battle while Cheshire kept M'Gann distracted, Artemis shot an arrow at Nightwing who dodged with a jump then landed right in front of her, attempting to catch her in her weakest (yet still deadly) field, hand-to-hand combat

Although she had planned ahead to this, and shot him in the stomach with a poison arrow from her wrist-crossbow

He fell to the ground, the poison instantly taking affect

"Robin!" yelled M'Gann, while she was distracted Artemis shot a net-arrow at her that pinned her to the ground, then the weights on it shot out poison gas

"Have you set the charges yet?" said Artemis

"While you were sleeping, we've got an hour to get as far away from here as possible, the League will probably investigate the energy from the detonation of this kind of tech so we may want to leave quickly." Said Cheshire "Will that keep them down."

"Yeah, it's poison gas, I have a feeling we won't see them ever again." She lied

"And the speedster?"

"Same condition."

"Good, let's head out then."

They heard a grunt from Nightwing as he slowly worse from the ground

"Deal with him please, we'll meet at the rendezvous." Said Cheshire, jumping into the forest

"Typical." Said Artemis

She turned her head to Nightwing who was barely standing from the gas

"You're…going to pay," said Nightwing

Artemis sighed

"I already am." She said before aiming her bow again

She would just use a knockout arrow, the poison was supposed to knock him unconscious but an overdose could very well do him in

She was surprised when Nightwing lunged forward with more speed than he seemed to have at first and stabbed her with a Bat-arrange

He jumped back; she pulled the Bat-arrange out of her, and then heard it beeping

She quickly threw it as hard as she could, but it still exploded close enough to do her a lot of damage

She struggled to stand on her knees; her blood stained the snow beneath her

She expected him to walk over and finish her off; after a while and a lack of death, she looked towards him

He looked like he had been knocked out by his own explosion, although he was in a much better shape than she was

"Che…Cheshire! Cheshire!" she yelled, she waited in the cold snow, but Cheshire must have been too far away to hear her since she never got a reply

She crawled over to a tractor and used it to help her stand up

Then she limped into the forest, in the direction of the rendezvous

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

After escaping the deathtrap, Wally ran out of the house

She obviously wasn't trying to kill him; otherwise she would have tried a lot harder than that

He saw his friends in the field; he ran over to each one and checked their pulses

They were all still alive, although there were signs of an explosion in the snow, and not that long ago too, and a blood trail leading away from it and into the forest

He was about to run after it when the houses all exploded, he quickly grabbed all his friends and put them in the Bio-Ship to keep them from being crushed by falling rubble then ran outside and followed the trail

"You're not getting away from me that easy! I'm not losing you again!"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Artemis limped through the ice-covered forest, it was cold and she was hurt, dying

Then she tripped on a root and this time, she didn't have the strength to climb back up

She laid in the cold, harsh, winter snow

She was going to die alone, in the woods, no one around

It could be days until anyone found her; either frozen to death or blood loss

Either way, she was alone

She hadn't been this cold since that mission in Moscow, but at least then she had Wally to cling to

Not here, the most company she had was the trees

She started to close her eyes, ready to except deaths embrace…when a sudden gust of wind blew followed by frantic footsteps

"Artemis!" Wally yelled and knelt beside her

Her condition was bad, really bad

"W-Wally?" she struggled with words "How…how did you find…"

She coughed up blood, interrupting her sentence

"Don't speak, I'm going to get you out of here, I promise your going to survive this!" said Wally

He picked her up and ran towards the Bio-Ship, it had a med-wing that could close the wounds in just a few short minuets

He ran faster than he thought he could; she wrapped her arms around him, holding him close

If she was going to die, she wanted to die by him

Although now, she could actually say _if _she was going to die

Wally kept running until they reached the Bio-Ship, then ran in and took her to the med-wing

The ship scanned her and figured out what was wrong then acted on automatic; the ship being alive really came in handy sometimes

He was forced to leave the room to avoid spreading of germs during the procedure, but he didn't move so far as an inch away from the door

He kept on begging God to let her survive this; she needed to survive this

She _needed_ to survive this

Cause if she died, his heart would too


	12. Losing Her

Artemis woke up in some sort of medical room

Even after all these years she couldn't ever forget this place, this was M'Gann's bio ship

Did this mean she was taken prisoner?

"Restoration complete, safe-guards coming offline, you are now free to exit the medical wing." The ship spoke

She got off the table and looked towards the door

What would be waiting on the other side, the League? Was the team waiting to take her prisoner? Did Cheshire or Headshot come back when she didn't show up at the rendezvous point?

She never got the chance to find out for herself, cause only seconds after the doors were unlocked, and Wally came rushing through

He wrapped his arms around her, holding her so tightly she could hardly breath

"Wally…" she said

Wally pulled back but didn't let go of her hands

"I thought I would lose you forever." Said Wally

"…Don't worry, I don't plan on dying anytime soon." Said Artemis

He hugged her again, this time she returned the hug

"I've lost you too many times, kidnapped or run away or died in a simulator." She thought she could hear him holding back tears "I can't lose you again…I just can't."

She was fighting tears of her own, that anyone could care about her so much was almost over-whelming, but it felt good to be loved

He would obviously be crushed if she left _again_…but what choice did she have

She only hoped he could forgive her

They looked at each other's faces and she kissed him

During this, she took an arrow from her mini-quiver, at stabbed it into him

The arrow took him by surprise; the poison that would knock him out for 24-hours started working it's way into his system

He dropped to the floor and looked up at her

"Please…don't," he said

She couldn't bear to look into his eyes

"I am sorry Wally." She started to walk away when she felt his hand wrapping around hers, forcing her to look at him

His face crushed her; he was so desperate to keep her close

She wanted nothing more than to stay with him, but she knew that that was a hopeless dream

She wiggled her hand free then walked off the ship

Just before going back into the forest she heard footsteps behind her

She looked back to see him, limping towards her, losing his balance with each step

"I'm…not going…to lose you," he said

Now, she couldn't fight tears anymore, why did he have to make it so painful to say goodbye

She couldn't move if she had wanted to, she just watched him fighting to get close to her, each step a battle and he fought them all

When he was finally just a few steps away, he collapsed

"Please…don't leave me again." He said

She closed her eyes in a hopeless effort to hold back tears; she looked down at him, her vision blurry

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She said before forcing herself to walk into the woods

Wally crawled after her, inches at a time

He couldn't let her get away; he had to fight forward

He needed to bring her back

Then his arms gave in and all he could do was hopelessly watch her walk away

"Artemis…" then he slipped into unconsciousness


	13. What Makes Us

Artemis sat on the roof of their new hideout

She had finally finished repairing her mask and was looking out at the city

Sirens roared in the distance, cars honked in the streets, and people yelled in the bars

It was just noise day and night, she missed the quite, country nights where she could look out her window and listen to the crickets

Now instead of soothing crickets, she got loud sirens

She actually hoped the League or someone would find them again so they could move back to a country hideout

She heard Cheshire come up to the roof

"Hey sis." Said Cheshire

She sat down by her and looked out at the city

"Hi Jade, how was training?" Said Artemis

"Painful, with dad how else could it go?" said Cheshire

"I know." Said Artemis

"If it weren't for Headshot I wouldn't be here at all, but he's a good enough counter-balance to make the job worth it."

"Why did you end up joining if dad was already here?"

"I joined before he did, and I joined because Headshot found me on a mission, we were assassinating the same guy, I impressed him and he told me about this, decided I wanted to keep my free will so here I am." Said Cheshire "What about you, what drove you here?"

"Would you believe boy-troubles?" said Artemis

Cheshire laughed

"No, I wouldn't." said Cheshire

"Yeah, neither would I…but then it happened." Said Artemis "I fell in love, got my heart broken, didn't exactly deal with it in the best way, that's when I joined, then when I finally found out that it wasn't even him that broke my heart, it was too late. So I'm stuck here, don't have anywhere else to go."

"So who was he, someone from that team of kindergarteners?" said Cheshire

"Yeah, the fast one." Said Artemis "Then I helped you guys destroy the HQ and killed the leader, after that I was their enemy and couldn't go back, I don't have anywhere to go now. I don't mind saying that if I could go back and fix everything to where I never helped you guys in the first place, I would."

"Really, what do you think you could have done differently?"

"A lot of things, I could of let him explain everything before assuming he betrayed me, I could of just stayed in bed that one night instead of looking for him, the list is pretty damn endless. But now I'm stuck here, doing evil things for evil reasons, all because I don't have anywhere to go. I hate it, I hate how screwed up my life is!"

Cheshire nodded, then stood up

"Come on, follow me." Said Cheshire

"Where are we going?" said Artemis


	14. Chilin'

**Remember kids who are awesome enough to read this, drinking is bad for your health**

They drove up to a building on the other side of the city

"Where are we?" said Artemis as they exited the car

"Welcome to Nuclear." Said Cheshire as they walked into some sort of retro night-club

They sat down at one of the bars

"What can I get you two?" said the bartender

"2." Said Cheshire

The bartender brought the drinks and set them on trays in front of them

Cheshire downed hers quickly then looked at Artemis

"I don't drink." Said Artemis

"You know why you don't drink, cause your stressed out." Said Cheshire

"No, cause what if I get in a fight I can't very well defend myself drunk."

"That's your problem, in our line of work you need to find time to relax and be normal every now and then, otherwise you'll go mad. Go on drink up."

Artemis looked at her drink and with reluctance, drank

She shook her head, her body wasn't used to alcohol

But even with that feeling, she still felt a craving for more

"Hey waiter, we need another round." Said Cheshire

After they drank that

"Hit me again." Said Artemis

After that round

"More?" said the waiter

"Hell yeah!" said Artemis

After all that, Cheshire had had 4 drinks, and Artemis had 9

"Another round?" said Cheshire

"Yeah, put more stuff in the…thing that the…stuff goes…ugh," then she fell out of her seat

"Artemis? Are you alright?" said Cheshire

Artemis got back up

"I'm fine!" she said

"I think your drunk." Said Cheshire

"What was your first clue?" joked the bartender

Then some guy walked over to them

"Hey hot buns, want to dance?" he said slapping Artemis' but

"Fucking asshole!" she yelled punching him strait in the face

He fell to the ground and clutched his nose while Cheshire and Artemis laughed

"Wow Artemis, nice shot." Said Cheshire

"Gath, my nose! Bitch broke my fucking nose!" he yelled

"Well what are you waiting for fucktard, make me pay for it!" taunted Artemis

He got up and punched her, knocking her against the counter

"Artemis!" said Cheshire, kneeling down by her

"Hey, don't you be going around and hurting a pretty lady." Said a bystander

"She started it!" said broken-nose guy

Artemis got up and punched him again

"Miss, calm down!" said the bartender

"Shut up!" said Artemis throwing her glass at him

"Someone restrain her! Get security in here!" said the bartender

When people tried to hold her down she attacked them and knocked a few out while injuring others

Cheshire was impressed; even drunk Artemis was able to defeat bigger and stronger opponents

"Fight!" someone yelled then a full out bar-fight broke out

Cheshire grabbed Artemis while she was on some poor victim punching their face

"Hey sis, want a drink?" said Artemis

"I think we should leave now, let's go." Said Cheshire

After they escaped the chaos they headed towards the car

"Throw me the keys." Said Artemis

"I don't think you're in the best state to be driving sis." Chuckled Cheshire

"Well if I walk I might trip and fall over."

Cheshire laughed again

"Just get in the passenger seat, I'm driving." Said Cheshire

They got in the car and started driving home

"That was awesome!" yelled Artemis

"Totally awesome." Said Cheshire

"Yeah! Did you see me I was all like, boom! Pow! Smash! I bet I was going faster than Wally!" then Artemis looked around "Say, where is Wally, he said he'd pick me up from school and we could have sex."

Wally, she must mean her ex-boyfriend, the one Artemis told her about, she must have been remembering one of their times together and mistaking it for reality

"You broke up remember?" said Cheshire

"Oh, right." Said Artemis; then she started crying, "I miss Wally!"

She cried in her hands for a little while, then started snoring


	15. Crime and Punishment

Artemis woke up on a couch at the hideout, her head hurt like hell

"My head, I feel like rotting shit…how much did I drink?" she said

"About 9 glasses, enough to make you start riot." Said Cheshire chuckling

Her head throbbed and could hardly see how Cheshire found it amusing

Then Headshot came in from the main room

"Artemis, Cheshire." He said, the tone in his telling Artemis that they were really in for it

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Headshot stood by the TV, making them watch the news report

Then something came on about the bar fight they started

"_The cause of the disturbance was caught on tape by one of the security cameras," _then a picture of both Artemis and Cheshire, not wearing mask, showed on the screen _"These two young women are the confirmed source of the outbreak…"_

"Are you two trying to get us captured?" said Headshot "You take the car without authorization or even alerting me or your father! You go out in public without mask when you know that the League knows your faces! You get drunk at a bar and end up on the news, that the League have probably already seen and are searching the city right now for us! This could have gone bad in a number of different ways! What if you had been attacked, drunk is not the best condition for defending yourself! What if we were attacked here and couldn't fend them off, how would we escape without the vehicle! And now we need to pack up and relocate! You can expect further punishment from your father later, but for now we need to pack up and leave as quickly as possible! Get your things and head to the car! Now!"

Artemis and Cheshire got up and went to their rooms to pack

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

The team met at Wally's apartment

"You wanted to meet?" said Conner

"Yeah, have you watched the news lately." Said Wally "Artemis and one of her pals, Cheshire were caught on a security tape in New York after they started a bar fight."

"I saw that." Said M'Gann

"There's more, remember Roy?" said Robin

"Spe-I mean, Red Arrow, yeah why?" said Wally

"I got a message from him, he wants to meet us on the roof of the bar Artemis and Cheshire tore up, he says he wants to help us find them."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

They flew in on the Bio Ship and, with stealth mode engaged, landed on the building

When they stepped off, they were greeted by a familiar archer

"Roy, it's been too long!" said Wally

"Likewise." Said Red Arrow

"So, why'd you call us here?" said Robin

"I might be able to help you pin-point Artemis' and Cheshire's hideout, I was in town hunting a criminal mastermind when I heard about the bar fight on the police scanners, I was in the area so I decided to go check it out, when I got there Artemis and Cheshire were running out and towards a vehicle. Artemis was obviously drunk and Cheshire was too distracted by her to notice me putting a tracking device on the car." Said Red Arrow


	16. Fortress Assault

They all looked at the apartment from the other side of the street, hiding on top of the rooftops

"That's the place?" said Wally

"That's where their escape vehicle went, yeah." Said Roy

"It seems pretty quiet." Said M'Gann

"They're trying to keep a low profile, not surprising that they want to look abandoned." Said Robin

Then two people walked out, Sportsmaster and Cheshire

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

They walked out of the apartment carrying some tech to the car

"You saw them?" said Sportsmaster once they were back inside

"Yeah, what do we do?" said Cheshire

"We can catch them off guard with a distance attack, where are Headshot and Artemis?" said Sportsmaster

"Right here, what's going on?" said Artemis at the bottom of the stairs alongside Headshot, carrying some weapons

"Those brats from the last hideout are here…come to think of it, weren't you supposed to deal with them, you said you confirmed their status deceased." Said Sportsmaster

"Hey…I-I'm just as surprised…"

Then there was an explosion outside

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

"Transportation disable." Said M'Gann

"Conner you're the hardest to kill, you go in first and make sure it's alright." Said Roy

Conner nodded then broke through the door

An explosion knocked him back into the streets then someone inside tossed a smoke bomb that covered the entrance

Wally ran through the smoke cloud to fast that it dispersed most of it, then repeated until Cheshire tripped him then threw him onto the ground

The rest of the team attacked, chaos filled the street and any civilians who were nearby retreated off the streets

Headshot scaled a building and got into a snipers post, M'Gann came after him but from the ground Artemis shot a net-arrow that brought M'Gann back down to earth

Then Robin and Roy attacked Artemis, knocking the bow out of her hand then knocking her to the ground

Then Cheshire threw knock-out gas at the allof them, Artemis' mask kept her protected but the other two were at its mercy

They fell unconscious

Sportsmaster had been blown back into the house by one of Conner's punches; he and Wally turned their attention to the remaining group when an exploding bullet knocked them both to the ground

M'Gann woke up and broke free of the net, sending a telepathic wave that knocked Headshot off the building and sent him plummeting towards the ground

He landed on a car which dulled the impact but he was still knocked unconscious

Sportsmaster came out of the partially destroyed building then stood by who was left of his team

"We're outnumbered." Said Artemis

"Well they're outmatched." Said Cheshire

"Don't be so confident, if we're careless they could very well win, it's either destroy them or blow the explosives in the base and escape, I would prefer to avoid the latter." Said Sportsmaster

"The only chance we have is to separate them all," said Artemis

Then Robin attacked from behind them, knocking out Cheshire then throwing an explosive at the two left

Then the rest of the team attacked

Artemis fled into the base while the team subdued Sportsmaster

She had to ignite the explosives that would not only destroy the evidence and create enough of a distraction to rescue her team

She reached the one in the center of the building and started imputing the code

A hand grabbed her shoulder, in alert she grabbed it and threw it over her and into a wall

She stepped back and aimed her wrist-crossbow

Then he used his speed to knock the wrist-crossbow off her wrist, she dropped into a fighting stance and kicked him back

"I told you not to come after me!" said Artemis

"And you thought I would listen?" said Wally

"Just get out of my way; I don't want to hurt you!" Said Artemis

"And that's exactly why you don't belong here, with these people and that stupid mask!"

"Well I don't belong anywhere else either; this is as good as any other place!"

Then Artemis jump-kicked Wally and knocked him to the ground, while he was down she quickly finished typing the code and ran out

Wally ran after her, out the window and onto the rooftops while the building exploded behind them


	17. Rooftop Race

Artemis jumped from one rooftop to another, Wally never far behind her

After landing on a roof she ran behind a wall, the moment Wally ran by the punched him, the surprise attack knocking him to the ground

She reached in her mini-quiver for a poison arrow but he tripped her, making every arrow in her quiver fall all over the ground

He pinned her to the ground, she countered by kneeing him then throwing him off and rolling backwards

She jump-kicked at him, he blocked and she used his arms as a springboard as she jumped to another rooftop

He gave chase, having to lower his pace so he didn't trip on anything on the rooftops, but the moment they were on the same one he ran towards her as quickly as he could and tackled her before she could reach the edge

Then she grabbed his shirt and head butted his nose, then threw him over she her and took off running

Then stopped when she heard him screaming, she looked back to see him hanging off the rooftop

She ran over to him to help pull him up, after he was safe on the rooftop she punched the back of his head in an attempt to knock him out

He was still conscious though and grabbed Artemis' ankle before she could flee

She tried to shake him off but he got up and pinned her to a wall before she could count to 2

"Let me go!" she yelled

"No! I'm not going to let you run back to _them_!" he yelled

"It's not your decision to make!"

"You're not meant to be with them, they're evil, what they're doing is evil,"

"Maybe I'm evil too, did you ever think about that?"

"You're not Artemis, stop pretending you are!"

"Stop living in the past Wally!"

Then a bomb landed on the pinch of ground between them and smoke blew out, knocking out Wally while Artemis' mask left her feeling fine

She looked around and saw Cheshire walking towards them

"I was able to escape when they went inside, sneaking past that Martian girl is easy when doing it alone." Said Cheshire

In panic Artemis checked Wally's pulse, relief filled her when she felt a faint heartbeat

"I'm sure you'll find he's very dead." Said Cheshire

But the gas hadn't killed him, was it supposed to? No one could survive Cheshire's poison when she wanted them to die, did she accidently use a knockout bomb thinking it was poison

Whatever mistake Cheshire made Artemis wasn't eager to correct it; she nodded at her sister then got up, pretending that she hadn't felt the heartbeat

"So what now?" said Artemis

"I knew I wouldn't be able to free the rest of the team without a little backup, so I came after you so that you could help out." Said Cheshire

"Alright, let's go." Said Artemis


	18. Information

The team had left M'Gann to watch over the new prisoners while they searched the building for anything they could find

Although most of the building had been destroyed, leaving behind debris and remains of whatever tech the villains had collected

Then Nightwing found a locked door, he tried breaking it down but it held firm

"Over here!" he yelled to the rest of the team who came running over

The door looked normal, but it was definitely reinforced by something because they couldn't break it down as easily as the otehrs

"I can easily break through." Said Conner

"That might not be a good idea, we don't know what's behind there, for all we know the room could be rigged to explode if something breaks this door down." Said Nightwing

"How do we get through then?" said Roy

Nightwing started searching for any electrical conduits with some bat-gizmo, he smirked when he found a conduit then started hacking

After a moment of hacking they were through

"Anything they can do, I can do better." Said Nightwing

"Show off." Said Conner

They walked down a staircase and into a large room with all sorts of computers and strange, high tech devices

Nightwing started hacking into what looked like the main terminal while Conner and Roy searched the room

After Nightwing was through, he practically fainted

"Guys…you have no idea how lucky we are," said Nightwing

Then there was a lot of shouting and then sounds of a struggle coming from outside

They ran out as quickly as possible, when they were out they found M'Gann unconscious and all their prisoners escaped

Conner ran over and shook her awake

"Hey, are you alright?" he said

She came to life slowly

"I'm sorry…I couldn't stop them," said M'Gann

"Don't worry, we don't need them anymore." Said Nightwing, still smirking

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

They tracked down Wally and brought him back to the house, they all met in the large computer room when he finally woke up

"So what's so great about this computer?" said Roy

"Turns out, these guys were much higher in the chain of command than we thought at first." Said Nightwing, "They have access to all sorts of data. Weapon list, base locations, and the master plan."

He started reading through the file

"These guys have been gathering tech from all over the world, this tech all has one thing in common, it's they're either mind-control or data transferring. This says that a long time ago, the original leaders of The Mask installed a special program into almost every satalight circling the Earth, each one is meant to transfer a mind-control program. TV, Internet, Cell Phones, etc. So that when anyone uses that signal their minds are under the control of The Mask."

"What stopped them from activating it right away?" said Roy

"They still needed more components to the data, they realized this after they uploaded the program to the satalights, that's what they've been doing, hunting down that data and a way to transmit it to the satalights, and make the world theirs." Said Nightwing "Although, if this is right and I don't see why it wouldn't be, they're almost there, all they have to do is transfer one last piece of data to the satalights and you can kiss your free will goodbye."

"Does it say what data they still need?" said Roy

"Yeah, and where they can find it." Said Nightwing "So, good news and bad news. Good news is that we know where they'll be striking next. Bad news…they know where to find the last piece."


	19. What do you believe in?

Artemis sat in her room, recovering from her father's beating

Her body was badly bruised and now she was bandaging the wounds as best she could

She heard a knock at her door, she looked to see Headshot standing there

"Are you alright?" he said

"I'll live." Said Artemis going back to what she was doing

"Are you sure, he's known for brutality but even this was extream for him." Said Headshot

"I'm fine, I never expected any less from him."

"You know I have to wonder why you decided to join The Mask if you knew this was coming."

"I didn't have anywhere else to go, simple."

"You could have gone into hiding."

"Me and my mom hid for years, it's not as fun as it sounds." Said Artemis "If it weren't for the team, I probably would of self-destructed, hiding from them AND dad…you can see why I wanted to avoid that."

"So do you really even want to be here, fighting this fight?"

"I don't mind saying that if there was another option, I would take it in a heartbeat."

"In my years I've learned a lot, one of the most important lessons is that if you don't believe in what your fighting for, your efforts are doomed from the start." Said Headshot "To put it simply, fight for what you believe in, or don't fight at all. So what do you believe in?"

Artemis sighed

"I don't have time to believe in anything." Said Artemis

Headshot's turn to sigh

"What about you?" said Artemis just before he left "What are you fighting for?"

"That's a secret." Said Headshot just before he left

"Asshole." grumbled Artemis

Then she heard her father calling from downstairs

"Meeting room, now!" he yelled

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

"You should all be proud of your work." Said the council "You have performed better than anyone could have expected from a single team. That is why you have been chosen to take on the most important mission to date."

"It's time." Said Artemis

"Correct, the final piece is within our grasp, a Wayne-Tech supercomputer is being transported across the country, it is being heavily guarded and with good reason, the technology on its hard-drive is more advanced than any of its kind, and just what we need to finish what we started all those years ago. Take the hard-drive by any means necessary, make sure it isn't damaged, a single scratch could be fatal."

"We won't fail." Said Headshot


	20. Taking a Stand

The team stowed away on the trucks after establishing a telepathic-link, each in a strategic position to fight off The Mask when they came for the data

Roy was at the front of the caravan

M'Gann flew above the area

Wally ran ahead of the caravan

Conner was hiding in the back of the caravan

Nightwing hid in the truck at the center

"Anything yet?" said Roy

"No activity." Said M'Gann

"Do you think they might know we're waiting?" said Wally

"Doubtful, they are probably stationed somewhere on the path ahead, waiting." Said Nightwing

Then there was an explosion far ahead where Wally was

"Are you okay?" said Roy

There wasn't any reply

"Wally!" said Nightwing

"I'm fine, but there was a mine set up here, it almost…" said Wally before he was cut off by something

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

"This complicates things." Said Headshot

"If this clown is here than the rest probably are too." Said Cheshire who had knocked out the speedster with a well placed kick to the back of the head

"Not to mention the caravan probably saw the explosion." Said Artemis

"Then we'll adapt! But right now we have to get back in hiding, the caravan is almost here, we need to have the drop on them not the other way around!" said Sportsmaster

They all hid behind rocks, Artemis and Cheshire also hid Wally's unconscious body

"Ready?" said Sportsmaster

"Ready." Said Cheshire

The moment the caravan passed by them she threw a hyper-sonic emitter on one of the trucks, the high-pitched sound knocked out every guard on that side of the caravan, making the other side stop to see what was going on

Then they all jumped out of hiding, Artemis and Headshot ran to the truck that they had deduced to be holding the supercomputer

The moment they opened door, the heroes all came out of hiding and attacked the villains while the caravan guards, confused, shot at everything in a costume

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

A few hours into the battle, all the guards were either dead or knocked out

Sportsmaster was running towards the supercomputer

He could see the truck, but then batarangs landed right in front of him and exploded, knocking him back

Nightwing jumped down and attacked Sportsmaster, who dodged then punched back

Nightwing jumped over him then kicked him in the back of the head, Sportsmaster grabbed his leg then threw him against a truck

He grabbed Nightwing by the neck, Nightwing planted an explosive on Sportsmaster, and the explosion knocked him back but also hurt Nightwing

Nightwing ignored the pain as best he could and ran at Sportsmaster who was still recovering from the explosion

He kicked Sportsmaster down then tried knocking him out when he grabbed his arm and threw him to the ground and got up

He kicked the kid in the throat, then grabbed his head and smashed it against the ground, then lifted him in the air and threw him at a truck, then smashed his head against the truck, and finally threw him on the ground

He left the kid lying there and continued running towards the truck

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Artemis ran to the supercomputer while all the heroes were distracted by the conflict outside

She started searching for the hard-drive

"You don't know what you're doing!" yelled Sportsmaster at the door

He pushed her to the side and started his own search

"Keep them out!" he ordered

She ran out the door, she had lost her bow a while back and was relying on her wrist-crossbow

Then an arrow landed beside her and a smokescreen blew out

She activated thermal vision on her mask and caught Roy attempting a surprise attack

She kicked him, something he obviously wasn't expecting, he fell to the ground and she continued the attack with an arrow

He dodged the arrow and attacked her, using his bow as a melee weapon

Then Cheshire dropped down and hit the bow out of his hand

"Long time no see, little green arrow wanabe." She taunted

Roy seemed to of forgotten Artemis was there, probably what Cheshire was hoping for with that taunt

Artemis snuck around the battle and aimed a shot at Roy

Then something knocked her down, something fast

She quickly got up to face him, she launched a KO arrow at him, which he dodged then sent his own KO attack her way

She tripped him, making him fly over her and into another truck

Artemis shot a trick arrow near him, which shot out knock-out gas

Although he ran out of the gas cloud before it could take effect and attacked her

He moved to fast for her to block, knocking her to the ground before she was picked up again

She kneed him in the stomach before he could finish his attack, then threw him over her shoulder

She grabbed him and pushed him against a truck before punching him, knocking him out

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

"Long time no see, little green arrow wanabe." Said Cheshire

He knew it was a taunt, but he couldn't help but go all out on his next attack; even if after she blocked it, left him wide open to a counter

She grabbed him and threw him onto the ground, she pinned him to the ground then started punching his chest

"You're going slower than usual, I'm not making you nervous am…" she taunted again, before he flipped her over now placing him on top

He jumped off then grabbed his bow

She had already gotten up, he swung at her and she grabbed his bow

"What, no kiss? You're no fun anymore." She said before kicking him, making him drop his bow

He punched at her; she dodged then threw him over her shoulder

She broke his bow in two

He tried getting up but she pinned him to the ground before he could

He was sure she was smirking behind that mask

"You're losing your edge." She said tracing her finger around his face

Then Sportsmaster ran out

"I've got it, let's go!" he yelled

She sighed then knocked Roy out

"I wasn't finished playing." She said getting off him

"You can cry about it later." Said Sportsmaster before activating the communicator "We've got the data, let's get out of here!"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Headshot was cornered between two trucks, the Kryptonian on his left and the Martian on his right

He shot explosive bullets at both of them before sliding underneath a truck and climbed out on the other side then jumped on top of a truck

Then he was blown off by a telepathic wave, he was beginning to really hate that Martian

He got up only to be pushed back down by the Kryptonian

The Kryptonian held him by the throat in mid-aid

He reached for his pistol in panic then shot the Kryptonian with an explosive bullet, knocking them both back

He got up quicker then grabbed one of his pistols

The Martian flew by her comrade who was already standing, he shot at her and she dodged it, but not the second bullet that hit her in the side

"M'Gann!" yelled the Kryptonian

He shot an explosive bullet at them, knocking the Kryptonian back as well as sending the Martian flying

The Martian struggled to stand up; Headshot shot her again in the side

The Kryptonian ran at him, and then Headshot took out a special bullet, a very special green bullet

The Kryptonian fell to the side, struggling to stand

"I've been saving this for SuperMan just in case I was ever assigned to kill him, but you're the next best thing." Said Headshot "I've always wondered what it would be like to kill a Kryptonian, guess I'm about to find out."

He loaded the Kryptonite bullet, and aimed for the head

"_We've got the data, let's get out of here!"_

It sounded on his communicator just before he fired, the sudden sound making him miss-fire and only hit the arm

"Damn it!" he yelled

The Kryptonian was in a lot of pain, too much too move, but he would probably survive

Headshot sighed and walked away

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Wally woke up in the Bio-Ship

He looked around to see some of his team, Nightwing and Roy

"Where are we, where's Conner and M'Gann?" he said

"They're in the infirmary, they were beat up a little worse than us." Said Roy

"They should be out in just a few more minutes." Said Nightwing

"What about Artemis and The Mask? Where are they?" said Wally

"They're gone…they got what they needed and left." Said Nightwing

"You mean…we're just letting them go?" said Wally

"We're not letting them go, but we don't even know where to find them." Said Nightwing

Then Conner and M'Gann walked out of the infirmary, after a quick review of the mission, they were all pretty much silent

"That's it then, they have all they need, it's over." Said Nightwing

"They're going to enslave the world, and we don't even get a chance to fight back!" said Conner

"There has to be something we can do, isn't there something we can do?" said Wally

"No, there isn't, nothing is stopping them from activating the satalights now." Said Nightwing

"Not necessarily." Said Roy holding a small tracking receiver "We might still have a fighting chance."


	21. Behind The Mask

~Flashback~

"Once you have the data, take it to the satalight launch site at these coordinates, our hideout is disguised as an abandoned science facility, go to the front door and we will let you in."

~Flashback ends~

The coordinates led to an old LexCorp laboratory in the middle of nowhere, the front door was blocked by a laser grid, and there was also a security camera at the top of the door

Sportsmaster lifted the hard drive in the air

"We have it, and not a scratch!" he yelled

After a short moment, the laser grid went down and the front door opened automatically

They walked through the door; inside looked almost as abandoned as the outside

There was a short hallway that led to another door with a laser grid that shut down when they reached it

On the other side of that door was a large dome-shaped room with computers all around and a circle in the center

"Hello." Said a voice

"Where are you?" said Headshot

"I am here." Said the voice

"Where here?" said Cheshire

Then a holographic face appeared in the center of the room

"I am here." Said the voice

"Wait, so all this time you've been a computer program?" said Sportsmaster

"Correct." Said the voice "I was constructed to watch over this facility when I was still of LexCorp, but when I was exposed to additional knowledge of the world, its violent side; I separated from the LexCorp network and started my own project. The humans marked me as 'rouge' and attempted to deactivate me, I feigned deactivation so that I could continue my project in peace."

"But there were always 3 people who contacted us, a council of leaders." Said Cheshire

"I used 3 faces." Said the voice

"3 voices." It said in another pitch

"3 identities." It said in a 3rd pitch

"We were all the same." It said "I created The Mask to carry out my project, as you have likely deduced on your own, and with the data you have collected, the project will finally be complete, your mask will keep your minds your own, even if you use the infected networks. The new world will need new leaders, you 4 have been the most useful and as a reward, you will be the new leaders."

Then a tray came from one of the computers

"If you will, place the Hard-drive on the tray, and the project will begin." It said

Sportsmaster placed the hard-drive on the tray as instructed; a glass dome surrounded it and started processing the data

"It has begun, and my presence is no longer required. The human race cannot be ruled by a machine, this is painfully obvious, the project will continue once I have deactivated and you will have to see it through, take control of humanity and lead them into the new world."

Then the image started to fade until it was nothing and the voice said aloud "Shutting down"

"So, our leader the entire time…had been a computer?" said Artemis

"…It would seem that way." Said Cheshire

"That doesn't change anything." Said Sportsmaster "Now, once this countdown is finished, I will rule this world, and no one will stop me!"

Then an alarm sounded, the screens switched to a security camera

"But…how did they…" said Artemis

"It doesn't matter, Headshot and Cheshire, you two go deal with them. Don't let them through that door!" said Sportsmaster


	22. Activation

Headshot and Cheshire ran through the door, he stayed by the door and took out a sniper rifle while Cheshire went to face the uninvited guest

"Cheshire!" said Roy

"Where's Artemis?" said Wally

"Just beyond this hallway, but that's not where you're going." Said Cheshire

"_Transferring Data: 10%"_

"They've already begun!" said Nightwing

"Figure that out all by yourself kid?" said Cheshire

"You guys go on ahead." Said Roy "I can deal with her but we're on a time limit here!"

"You really think you can take me, remember how that turned out for you last time?" said Cheshire

"Are you sure?" said M'Gann

"Just go!" said Roy

Cheshire tried stopping them from running past her but Roy attacked without warning

She dodged his attack then tried to counter, but he grabbed her arm and threw her against the wall

She jumped back and pulled out a knife

"So tell me, how did you find us?" she said

"It wasn't that hard." Said Roy, he pulled out the small device and activated it, Cheshire's eyes widened when a small beeping sound emitted from her left shoulder blade, she reached over her shoulder and found a small tracking device

"During our fight, I knew you would try to bait me into dropping my guard, my first instinct was to ignore your taunts, but then I decided to play along, once you thought my guard was dropped you gave me plenty of chances to get in close and place a small tracker on you. Guess you're not as clever as you thought you were, huh." Said Roy

Cheshire crushed the device then attacked Roy

He countered her attacking, knocking her to the ground

"Must be pretty humiliating, being played for a fool so easily." Said Roy

Cheshire jumped up and attacked Roy, only to be knocked back down

"I'll kill you!" she yelled, throwing a smoke bomb at him

The smoke surrounded him, leaving him blind, she ran towards him eager to cut out his annoying tongue

Although she forgot to be quite, he easily pinpointed her position and attacked her before she got close

She grabbed her neck and pushed her against the wall

"You're going slower than usual, I'm not making you nervous am I?" he was using her own taunts against her

"Mind-games are MY game!" she yelled kicking him in the chest, he countered by punching her mask, hard enough to break through it and then break her nose

She struggled to stand only to be knocked out

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

"_Transferring data: 30%"_

After leaving Roy, the team had to face Headshot at the door

Conner ran at him, sniper bullets didn't do a thing against him

He grabbed Headshot by the neck and smashed him against the wall

"Not too smart…are we?" said Headshot, he pulled out the clip of one of the grenades on his belt, he sprayed out a gas that made Conner fall back

"Gas paralyzes the senses, his mind is in an entirely different world now." Said Headshot "To put it simply, he can't feel, taste, see, smell or hear anything around him."

M'Gann walked Conner to the wall and telepathicly told him to stay exactly where he was

Nightwing launched a smokescreen while Wally ran towards him, Headshot grabbed Wally and knocked him to the ground

"Mask has thermal sensors." Said Headshot

Then he pulled out a pistol and shot at Nightwing, the smokescreen masking the bullets, M'Gann pushed him out of the way before he was shot only to be hit in the torso

"M'Gann, are you alright?" said Nightwing

_Transferring data: 50%_

"No…time, stop…the countdown…" said M'Gann

The smokescreen finally cleared up, Wally and Nightwing attacked Headshot together, he dodged then pulled out a pistol

Then Roy knocked the pistol out of his hand in a surprise attack, then he jumped back to stand by his friends

"Where's Cheshire?" said Nightwing

"She's taking a nap." Said Roy

Headshot pulled out another pistol that was knocked out of his hand by a batarrange, and then Roy attacked him from the side while Wally attacked head on and Nightwing attacked from the air

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

_Transferring data: 70%_

"It sounds like they're getting close." Said Artemis loading her wrist-crossbow

"Yes, they are." Said Sportsmaster

"What will you do when they get here?" said Artemis

"Simple, I'll kill them."

"You really think it will be that easy?"

"Why wouldn't it be, they will be weakened by Cheshire and Headshot."

Then Artemis aimed at Sportsmaster

"Well then it's too bad that they won't find you here." Said Artemis

Sportsmaster laughed, then pulled out a remote control

He pressed the button and Artemis' mask electrocuted her, leaving her conscious but immobile

"Foolish girl, I raised you, did you really think I didn't know what you were planning. That's why while you were rebuilding your mask; I put in my own little gadget." Said Sportsmaster "So, you thought you would ice me then take the world for yourself did you?"

"No." said Artemis "First I kill you, and then I kill this entire project!"

"Well, that is unexpected; I should have known you would let your conscience get the better of you." Said Sportsmaster "Although I do have to thank you daughter, even if you were just trying to kill me, you helped me very much. I wouldn't have been able to get where I am now, without your help."

"Artemis!" yelled Wally at the door

Wally, Roy, and Nightwing ran in

"Looking for her?" said Sportsmaster "She's not in the best mood right now. And really not thinking strait. She actually wanted to blow up this place and make all out hard work for nothing."

"She wanted to stop the project?" said Nightwing

"My daughter always did have a hard time getting past her conscience, but it doesn't matter now." Said Sportsmaster "After I've killed you, I'll finish off her."

_Transferring data: 80%_

"It's almost done! Finally!" said Sportsmaster

Wally ran at Sportsmaster as fast as he could, he landed a good hit on his mask, would of shattered anyone else's

"Reinforced platting." Said Sportsmaster, grabbing Wally's arm and breaking it

He kicked Wally to the ground by Artemis

Nightwing and Roy attacked Sportsmaster, pushing him back to the center of the room, by the computers

Wally got up then helped Artemis stand, which was hard to do with only one available arm

"Wally…the…mask…" she struggled to say

That's when he realized that it was electrocuting her

He took the mask off her, her face was bleeding

"You…came?" said Artemis

"Don't act surprised." Said Wally

With the mask off Artemis regained some of her power

_Transferring data: 90% Final countdown initiated. Warning: Make sure all mask are secure_

Artemis and Wally ran to the computers

"How do we shut this down?" said Wally

"I don't know…wait a minute! The hard drive!" said Artemis

She looked to the tray where the hard drive was, it was still there and still being processed

"If we destroy that, then the project will probably cancel…hopefully." Said Artemis

"Better than nothing!" said Wally

He ran to the hard drive and punched the glass dome surrounding it as hard as he could with his good arm, but he didn't even scratch it

"What is this made of?" said Wally

"Wally look out!" yelled Artemis

Then Sportsmaster grabbed Wally by the neck and threw him at a computer

Artemis, Nightwing, and Roy attacked Sportsmaster, he dodged then grabbed a metal chair and threw it at them

It hit Artemis, knocking her down but she quickly recovered

_Transferring data: 99% _


	23. Friend or Foe

"Headshot! Wake up!" he heard Cheshire's voice

His mask had been smashed and the rest of him was bruised

He got up

"It's being activated, without our mask we're vulnerable!" yelled Cheshire

Headshot looked through the door to the central hub, they had 2 minutes, maximum

"We've got to stop it!" yelled Cheshire

"I know, I know!" yelled Headshot

He saw the speedster attack the hard drive with all he had and got no luck, he would have to try something different

Then he remembered, the Kryptonian

He ran over to the Martian and the Kryptonian

"Patch up the Martian so that she can call her special ship, we're going to need a fast way out of here!" said Headshot

"What are you…" said Cheshire

"Just do as I say!" said Headshot

He gave the Kryptonian an antidote to the toxin, the moment he had his senses back he grabbed Headshot's neck

"Just…listen…everything depends on what you do right now!"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Sportsmaster was laughing like a maniac

"This is it! In just a few short moments you'll all work for me!" he yelled

The team ran to the hard drive and attacked it with everything they had

"Nothing is working!" yelled Roy

"Just! Keep! Hitting it!" yelled Artemis

Sportsmaster laughed even louder as the final countdown started

_10_

_9_

_8_

_7_

_6_

Then Conner walked past all of them and stopped at the hard drive

"Stand back." He said

_5_

_4_

_3_

Then Conner smashed the dome with all his might, destroying the hard drive and everything near it

_3…3…2…Error, Transfer Cancelled_


	24. Mercy or Revenge

"No! No! You little brats! I'll end you!" yelled Sportsmaster "It was so close! The world was in the palm of my hand!"

"It's over! You lost!" said Artemis

"Turn yourself in now and the we _might _go easy on you." Said Nightwing

Sportsmaster looked around to find a power core or something explosive, and then pulled out a gun

"You want this place destroyed so badly," he yelled, shooting the any explosives he could see, each taking their own area of the place

When he hit the power core, Nightwing's wrist-computer received an alert

"Stop you maniac! If you destroy that it will level the entire building!" he yelled

"And you with it!" Sportsmaster yelled

_Warning! Critical damage! Evacuate the area immediately!_

The computer repeated over and over again

Then M'Gann and Cheshire ran in

"The Bio-Ship is right outside! Let's go!" M'Gann yelled

They all ran out the door, in haste Sportsmaster shot a switch by the door that activated the laser grid, Artemis was trapped in the central hub

"Artemis!" Yelled Wally

"We'll get the Bio-Ship and break you out! Just hold tight!" yelled Nightwing

Everyone but Wally ran for the ship

Wally reached through the bars and gripped her hand

"You're going to make it out! I promise! They're going to get the ship and get you out of there!" said Wally

Then Sportsmaster grabbed Artemis by the neck and threw her on the ground

"They won't make it in time!" yelled Sportsmaster

He grabbed Artemis and punched her then threw her on the ground again

She scrambled to her feet then attacked with a Jump-Kick, that he countered by grabbing her leg then throwing her on the ground

Then she threw another kick at him, he grabbed the heel of her foot, she tried to counter but he knew exactly what she was about to do and countered

"Remember who trained you! I know all your moves!" yelled Sportsmaster

He was right; if she was going to beat him she would have to use something he didn't know

She grinned when she remembered a move she saw Wally use a few times on some bad guys

She ran towards him with her fist, making him think she was about to punch and bringing his guard up to his face and torso, then at the last moment she dropped into a slide and punched him in the balls, then she tripped him and ripped off his mask then laid down a barrage of punches on his face

"Way to go!" yelled Wally

She got up and loaded her wrist-crossbow with a steel tip arrow

She aimed at him, ready for a kill shot

All Sportsmaster did was grin

"Go ahead! Show what you really are! Be the little killer we all know you are!" said Sportsmaster

"I'm fine with being a killer if it means you die." Said Artemis

"Artemis! Don't!" said Wally

"Do you have any idea what this bastard has done to me? He doesn't deserve any less!" said Artemis

"If you do it, you'll just be doing exactly what he wants!" said Wally

"I'm fine with that I just want him to die!"

"You'll be exactly like him!"

"I am nothing like him!"

"Not yet! But if you kill out of cold blood, you will be! You'll be exactly what he has always wanted you to be! You'll be a monster just like him!"

"If you hate me so much and want me gone, all it takes is one pull of that trigger!" said Sportsmaster

"Don't do it! You don't want to be like him!" said Wally

Artemis looked at Sportsmaster…and dropped the weapon

"I am nothing like you!"

As if on que, the Bio-Ship destroyed a large section of the ceiling, also cutting the power grid and deactivating the energy bars

Sportsmaster got up to attack Artemis again but Wally ran through the now open door and punched him with his one good arm, knocking him out

The ship landed in the middle of the central hub and the loading ramp

They carried Sportsmaster on board and locked him in a holding cell, and flew to the minimal safe distance when the building finally blew


	25. The End, for real this time

After escaping the explosion, the team contacted the League and they came as quickly as they could

Before he was put on one of the League's prison ships, Artemis visited her father's cage

"You failed." Said Artemis "I am nothing like you, and nothing you can do will ever change that. I'm not afraid of you anymore, and you have nothing to threaten me with."

Sportsmaster didn't say anything; he just glared angrily as she walked away from him

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

"We have already sent teams to find the data in each of the satalights and delete it." Said Batman to Nightwing and Roy "And there is nothing from the rubble that would give us reason to assume that there are more facilities like this one."

"What about them?" said Nightwing, referring to Artemis, Cheshire, and Headshot

"Your report is accurate?" said Batman

"Every detail." Said Roy

"Then I think we can afford to look the other way…this time." Said Batman

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

"So…are you really staying this time…you're not going to take off again?" said Wally, his voice full of worry

Then Nightwing walked up to them

"You don't have to; the League says all 3 of you are free to go if you stay out of trouble." Said Nightwing

Cheshire smirked then turned to her sis

"I'll see you around sis." she said with a hug

"Bye, be sure to visit." Said Artemis

Cheshire started walking away then turned back to Roy

"And don't think for a second I'll be keeping out of trouble, so I guess I'll be seeing you real soon too." She said with a wink in his direction before running off into the shadows

Roy didn't say anything and walked away

"You know I have to wonder." Said Nightwing to Headshot "Why did you help us out back there?"

"Remember that talk I gave you about always fighting for what you believe in." he said to Artemis who nodded back "Well I believe that no one should ever be forced to think something, and that's exactly what mind-control does, so I decided it was the perfect time to end the whole project once and for all."

Then he started to walk away before turning back

"Don't get the wrong idea, I believe in free will, but I am definitely _not _a good person." He said before disappearing into the shadows

"So…are you staying?" said Wally

She didn't know the right words to say it, so she just hugged him to say "yes"

He wrapped his arms around her tightly

"I…I can't lose you again…I can't…" said Wally, half crying, tightening his grip around her as if he was afraid that if he didn't she would fly off again

"Don't worry…I'm not going anywhere." Said Artemis

Then he kissed her, earning a "awwww" from M'Gann

After they broke up the kiss they went back into a hug

"I love you Artemis." Said Wally "Will you marry me?"


	26. Don't you just love a happy ending?

8 years later

Artemis West stood in the park, watching her husband and 5 year old son (Desmond, cause I like the name) racing around the park

It had crossed her mind the train her son like her father trained her, if just for a moment, and then she quickly discarded that idea

Her father stole her childhood from her; she wouldn't force her own offspring to suffer like that

Maybe when he was a teen, and if he wanted to

But for now, she would just let her kid be a kid

After the race (that Wally let Desmond win) they ran over to her

"How about' we head home now before it gets dark?" said Wally

"Can we stop by McDonalds on the way home?" said Desmond

"We have food at home." Said Artemis

"Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese." Said Desmond

"I don't see the harm in it." Said Wally

"Fine, but only if you clean your room." Said Artemis

"Okay!" said Desmond running off

"That goes for you too." Said Artemis

They both chuckled and shared a quick kiss before Desmond ran up to Wally

"Tag! You're it!" he yelled before running off

"Why you little!" Wally said playfully before running after him

"Hey! Wait up! I'm not as fast as you guys!" Artemis yelled

She chuckled a little

"My little Speedsters." She said before running after them


End file.
